55% of employees suffer bullying at work: report

TAIPEI--Over 50 percent of office workers in Taiwan have experienced bullying in the workplace, the majority of whom have been on the receiving end of verbal abuse, according to the results of an online survey published yesterday by the Taipei city government's Department of Labor.

The department's Employment Service Office, which conducted an online poll that attracted 1,820 replies, said that 54.89 percent of the workers said they have been bullied at work.

Regarding emotional abuse at work, 53.96 of the respondents said they have been subjected to impolite remarks or office gossip, while 26.04 percent said they have been intentionally excluded from activities or opportunities by their co-workers, the survey said.

Almost 15 percent of the respondents said they have been bullied by their superiors, either by having their work performance undermined or being given unreasonable workloads, the survey found.

Over 4 percent complained of having felt threatened and of becoming depressed because of their co-workers, according to the survey.